For All The Right Reasons
by AvatarCat13
Summary: Everyone has motives...and they have often reasons for doing so. When Yellowfang dies in the fire, she gives her reasons for killing Brokenstar...and so does her friends and family in StarClan. Who is with her or against her? And how will she handle living as a deceased cat? Takes place near the end of Rising Storm.


**AvatarCat13: Hey there, everyone! I've been thinking of doing this for a little while, but I've always wondered what would happen if I did a one-shot of Warrior Cats. I'll explain this as we go on.**

**You all know how Yellowfang speaks with the cats in StarClan to see if they forgave her for killing Brokenstar? Well, I've wondered what would happen if she went to join StarClan? She only got to see a few cats like Molepelt and Sagewhisker when she visited them, so we'll get to see what happens when she meets them here.**

**So now that this is out of the way, let's go on with the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Warrior Cats nor the characters. All of them belong to Erin Hunter. I'm writing this for your entertainment. And I don't own the title; plus, I'll give you a big guess on where I got the title from.**

**Publishing Date: July 29, 2013**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

_**For All The Right Reasons**_

"Yellowfang!"

Yellowfang paused after giving up on dragging Halftail's body out of the medicine den. Lots of burning twigs and stuff had blocked their path, and her body was too filled with smoke to continue on. It had been quite a while since Fireheart had announced that a fire had started in the camp, but Halftail had gotten a cough and could barely move. And when she got to clearing the way out, the old tom had died from smoke inhalation...and to make matters worse, the den was now blocked with burning debris.

But at the sound of the familiar voice, the old dark gray cat looked up.

"F-Fireheart?" she croaked. Yellowfang could barely hold his gaze and, when she spoke again, she was amazed at how her voice became so breathless and feeble.

Fireheart was already at her side, making her rasp, "Fireheart...I'm glad it's you who came."

"I shouldn't have left you here," Fireheart rasped with guilt, pressing his muzzle against her matted fur. "I'm so sorry."

_It's not your fault. I did what I had to do, _Yellowfang wanted to tell him. But all that came out of her mouth was "Did you save Patchpelt?"

Fireheart shook his head. "He had breathed in too much smoke."

"Halftail too." Her eyelids were starting to droop already, making her struggle to stay alive for one last minute. She noticed a pair of amber eyes behind Fireheart, and a voice rasped, "_I have come for you, Yellowfang. It's time to go."_

_Just wait...I need to tell Fireheart the truth._

_Very well. _The amber eyes then vanished just in time for Fireheart to say, "But we saved Goldenflower's kit!"

"Which one?" Yellowfang rasped.

"Bramblekit."

Yellowfang closed her eyes, and she could barely purr, but she was already happy to hear that. Unlike Fireheart, she knew Bramblekit had a great future ahead of him. Of course it would be hard with many distrusting him, but his reward would be great...unlike Brokentail.

She opened her eyes and stared fiercely at the flame-pelted cat before her. "You're a brave warrior, Fireheart. I could not be prouder of you if you were my own son. And StarClan knows how many times I wished you were instead of...Brokentail."

It was true. Ever since she had been exiled from ShadowClan, Yellowfang felt like nothing could make her feel better...until Fireheart (back then Firepaw) came along. He had given her the fight of her life, and when he was punished for feeding her instead of the Clan, he took the punishment of caring for her without any complaint. And in the end, he even helped her fight off Brokentail when he was just kitten-steps away from killing her. He was like the son she could have wished for instead of her own son, who had walked down the blackest of paths.

She finally told him the truth: "I-I killed him. I poisoned him...I wanted him to die..." But she couldn't go on, for she started coughing again.

"Hush. Save your strength," Fireheart assured her. He began backing away, offering, "Let me fetch you some water."

"Water's no use to me now," Yellowfang rasped, shaking her head slowly. "I want to tell you everything before..."

Fireheart approached her again and quickly cut her off, "You're NOT going to die! Tell me what I can do to help."

Yellowfang glared weakly at him. "Don't waste your time. I'm going to die whatever you do, but I'm not afraid. Just listen to me." She took a deep ragged breath and coughed as she continued, "I wish you had been my son, but I could not have borne a cat like you. StarClan gave me Brokentail to teach me a lesson."

"What did you learn?" Fireheart asked. "You are as wise as Bluestar herself."

_Brave soul, he has, _Yellowfang thought with a twinge of amusement. But it faded as she rasped, "I killed my own son."

"But he deserved it!"

"But I was his mother," Yellowfang insisted with another cough. "StarClan may judge me how they will. I am ready."

For she had seen the amber eyes and knew that her time was coming. Her breath was getting thinner and fainter, and she felt Fireheart licking her fur as if she could stay in the forest for a bit longer. And she would to share with him her final words.

"F-Fireheart?"

"Yes?"

Yellowfang finally gathered her last words, all the gratitude and love she could give to the cat she wanted to call her son. "Thank you for bringing me to ThunderClan. Tell Bluestar I have always been grateful for the home she had given me. This is a good place to die...I only regret that I will miss seeing you become what StarClan has destined for you to be..."

Finally, she could not say anymore and lowered her head to the ground. At this, Fireheart cried, "Yellowfang? Don't die!"

But Yellowfang knew it was time. And Fireheart had apparently thought so too, for he murmured to her softly, "Don't be afraid of StarClan. They will understand about Brokentail. You will be honored by our warrior ancestors for your loyalty to your Clanmates and your endless courage. So many cats owe their lives to you. Cinderpelt would have died from her accident if you had not tended to her. And when there was greencough, you fought day and night..."

But she could hear no more, for darkness was coming across her vision. And finally, she fell way to eternal blackness and never woke up.

**...**

Yet...she rose up steadily, looking around. Looking down, she saw her body...which meant she had now become a spirit. Fireheart was giving her body a tender lick before nuzzling it with great sorrow. Yellowfang wanted to comfort him and would have if not for a familiar voice.

"It's time to go, Yellowfang. You'll see him one day."

She looked around and gasped. It was the cat she once loved, the father of Brokentail.

"R-Raggedstar? You're here?"

The dark brown tabby tom nodded. "Yes."

Yellowfang went on, "But...why?"

"I'll explain when we get to your new home," Raggedstar merely replied. "Now come. There's a bunch of cats you've wanted to see."

With a flick of his patchy tail, he led her out of the den and into the burning clearing. Yellowfang knew she would miss being part of ThunderClan, but she wanted to see ShadowClan again. The Clan where she was born into.

She followed her former leader over to the burned gorse tunnel that led to the forest outside. This was like the time she had been captured by her future adopted Clan and made their prisoner, and those brought back the memories. This time, though, Yellowfang did not feel thorns tugging at her sides whenever she passed through them; this must one advantage of being dead. Raggedstar passed through a wall of light and stars, and Yellowfang followed him through with a leap.

The old dark gray she-cat looked around in wonder; she hadn't been there since she went to ask StarClan for forgiveness for killing Brokentail. The sky above her was dark with stars speckled around like specks on fur, and the ground around her paws was soft and grassy. A stream gurgled nearby, and the sounds of crickets reached her ears. Yellowfang just had enough time to look around and take this in when she heard a familiar voice.

"Yellowfang! You're here!"

She saw them: her family and friends. Among them were Sagewhisker, Cedarstar, Marigoldkit, Mintkit, Brightflower, Nutwhisker, and many others. Not only that, but cats from the other Clans had come to welcome her. Yellowfang had no idea she was that popular back when she was still alive.

"Hey Yellowfang!" Nutwhisker called, moving forward. Her brown-pelted brother nudged her playfully with his shoulder, purring, "Good to see you here."

"Yes, it IS good to see you at last," Brightflower purred as Yellowfang's own tiny daughters pranced around their grandmother's paws. "Can you forgive me for accusing you for killing my kits? I knew you'd never kill our younger litter."

She nodded. "Of course I will." And she finished this by nuzzling her mother's flat face, making most of the other cats purr and murmur comforting words.

But during the meowing, a voice sneered, "I hope you learned something from all this."

Yellowfang turned and bristled a lot more. Foxheart had shoved her way to the front, glaring at her with hate-filled green eyes. She knew the former deputy of ShadowClan had always hated her, but never before had she looked this enraged.

"What are you talking about?" Yellowfang hissed.

"If you never had Brokentail, then none of this would happen!" the ginger she-cat snapped. "Which, by the way, should have sent you to the Dark Forest! You broke the warrior code and the medicine cat code, and you stole Raggedstar from me! You have put all the Clans in mortal danger, and it's all your fault!"

Yellowfang flinched. It was true.

"That's ENOUGH, Foxheart!" Raggedstar roared, turning on her. "It wasn't her fault...it was _my _fault! I was the one who goaded her into being my mate because I was so foolish back then! And what's more, I was never in love with you, and I wanted to be your friend...but it looks like we won't be anymore."

"But what about what you kept telling Yellowfang that she was just a medicine cat?" Cloudpelt spoke up. "And that her opinion didn't mean anything?"

Raggedstar turned away from his second deputy. "I was blind to all of Brokentail's faults all because I wanted kits _with_ Yellowfang! Which brings me to what I wanted to say." He turned to Yellowfang, his normally fierce eyes burning with passion into hers. "Yellowfang, I am sorry for how I've treated you when we were alive. I just wanted you to be my deputy by my side, but when we broke up and you became a medicine cat, I chose Foxheart to make you jealous. So...I'm sorry."

Yellowfang gave him a half heartened and half exasperated look, knowing that she couldn't be mad at him forever. So she moved forth and gently nuzzled his face with hers, relishing in his strong scent and the fur against hers. It was against the warrior code for medicine cats to have a mate or kits, but in StarClan...perhaps it could be reversed.

"What are you doing?! Get away from each other!" Foxheart tried dragging Raggedstar away. "You're mine, remember?! She's just a lowly medicine cat!"

At this, the cats muttered angrily to each other, Shellheart muttering, "I can see why Cedarstar gave her that name. She's as crazy as a fox, all right."

"Yeah. Get her to the Warm Rocks," Brackenwing spoke up. "She needs to calm down."

So the other warriors gathered around the foaming ginger she-cat and gently led her away from the small group. Yellowfang knew she felt slightly sorry for Foxheart, but unless she calmed down, then she would only make the afterlife tougher.

"And if there's someone else to blame...it's me." Every head turned to Sagewhisker when the former ShadowClan medicine cat spoke up.

"But why?" Yellowfang asked her former mentor. "I said that being a medicine cat was one of the best things you've done for me."

Sagewhisker sighed. "I only said that because I thought I could use your powers. I kept reminding you over and over again about you being selfish...but that was me being selfish. And I've told you to control your power when I knew all along that you couldn't control it." The white she-cat shook her head and went on, "And if it's anyone's fault that Brokentail went bad even if he deserved his death, it was my fault. I told you to not be his friend...and now look at what happened."

The cats looked uneasily around each other, not knowing what to say. Then a pale gray cat spoke up, "But why would you not want a mother to be there for her kit? Mothers should not abandon their kits no matter what."

"You're one to talk, Rainflower," Redtail mumbled. "If I may recall, you abandoned Crookedstar when he was a kit, and you renamed him to something horrible."

"I know, and I feel horrible about it," Rainflower replied, looking regretful. "But this isn't about RiverClan. This is about a cat who just died."

"The point is...I'm happy that you were a medicine cat for ShadowClan and ThunderClan," Sagewhisker told Yellowfang, interrupting the argument between the cats. "It's just...I wish I didn't push you into it."

Yellowfang gazed sympathetically at her old mentor. "It's fine, Sagewhisker. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have joined ThunderClan. So thank you."

After more words of encouragement, Yellowfang headed out of the circle, Raggedstar behind her. She did not see Lizardstripe anywhere, which meant that she was either somewhere around StarClan, she was probably in the Dark Forest, or she was still alive. Yellowfang knew she was partially responsible for Brokentail being who he was, but she wondered how she was doing.

But now was the time to look around and observe the environment around them. Swamps took over part of StarClan's hunting grounds, which were useful for supplying ShadowClan prey like lizards and frogs. There was also a large snow-capped mountain right in the distance, its path to it paved by pine forests. It was the path ShadowClan cats of StarClan would take to share dreams with the cats of the living. But for now, Yellowfang could enjoy the scenery with Raggedstar, the tom she loved.

"Hello, Yellowfang."

Startled by the familiar voice, Yellowfang gently pulled away from Raggedstar and headed towards the reeds. There, she noticed a familiar black cat staring at her through clear green eyes.

"Molepelt?" she asked. "Have you been spying on us?"

Molepelt shrugged slightly. "Not too much, for it was a welcoming ceremony for you. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for your death."

Yellowfang looked away ruefully. "It's fine. I'm...also sorry for ignoring your warnings."

"I do not blame you in the slightest," Molepelt merely replied. "However, the only blame you must have is having Brokentail for a son. But in the end, he took his own path, and you yours. Now your pain is at an end, and you are now free in StarClan. And now, you may watch over the cat you have started to call your son, the fire who shall save the Clans. May your afterlife here bring you many warm wishes and good hunting."

When he finished, the old black tom headed deeper into the reeds. This time, Yellowfang did not call for him, knowing what he said was true.

"What was that about?" Raggedstar asked, coming up to her side. "What did Molepelt want?"

Yellowfang turned to him. "He was telling me about Fireheart."

Raggedstar tilted his head to one side. "You mean that kittypet who joined ThunderClan?" She nodded, so he remarked, "I got nothing against him. I'm half kittypet, remember? And if you believe that he can save the Clans, then I'll believe that too."

"Thank you," Yellowfang rasped, leaning against his patchy fur. Together along with StarClan, they could face the oncoming threat from Tigerclaw and many more.

_**The End**_

**...**

**AvatarCat13: Well...there you go. Sorry about the cheesy ending; I wanted to get the ending done and over with. As you can see in the story, I hate Foxheart and Rainflower, but it's said that the latter feels bad about neglecting Crookedstar. And I felt that Sagewhisker was indirectly responsible for Brokenstar not having any friends, but other than that, she's cool.**

**Don't expect me to make more of these, though. I gotta try and finish my other stories like Kataang Island Adventure 2 and WaterBender's Giant Adventure. I just felt like doing this after thinking about Yellowfang's Secret and about her death. She was cool, and she deserves to have a story that tells about her death scene and her rise into StarClan.**

**Read and review, folks! I don't allow flames, but I welcome advice, questions of any kind, and constructive criticism as long as it's not harsh.**

**See ya next time!**


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